The invention relates to a filter element, in particular for an internal combustion engine, in particular of a motor vehicle, comprising a filter medium made from a medium web that consists of a plurality of layers and is folded along folding lines.
The invention further relates to a device for folding a web-shaped filter medium of a filter element, in particular for an internal combustion engine, in particular of a motor vehicle, comprising a feed unit for the web-shaped filter medium, comprising an energy-introducing embossing unit, in particular an ultrasonic embossing unit, for embossing the web-shaped filter medium, and comprising a folding unit for folding the web-shaped filter medium along folding lines.
The invention further relates to a method for producing a zigzag-folded filter element made from a web-shaped filter medium, in particular for an internal combustion engine, in particular of a motor vehicle, in which the web-shaped filter medium is fed via a feed unit to an energy-introducing embossing unit, in particular an ultrasonic embossing unit, by means of which the web-shaped filter medium is embossed, and the filter medium is folded along folding lines by means of a folding unit.
From WO 2010/106087 A1, a filter element is known that serves for removing particles from a fluid flow, in particular particles from a fuel flow of an internal combustion engine. The filter element comprises an upper end disk, a lower end disk and a ring-shaped filter medium arranged therebetween that is folded in a star-shaped manner. For production, a multi-layered, web-shaped filter medium is used that is folded so as to form the filter element. In the case of the web-shaped filter medium, in particular, the individual layers lie loosely on top of each other. The filter medium is fed by means of a feed unit to a heat-introducing embossing unit, in particular ultrasonic embossing unit, which embosses folding lines into the filter medium. The filter medium is subsequently folded along the folding lines by means of a folding device. During embossing, the layers of the multi-layered filter medium are welded along the folding lines by means of the heat-introducing embossing unit.
It is an object of the invention to configure a filter element, a device, and a method of the aforementioned kind, by means of which the layers of the web-shaped filter medium can be connected to each other and folded in a simple and precise manner, and wherein the finish folded filter element has an even higher stability and filtering efficiency.